Everlasting
by Hyuchiha Ruki
Summary: They’re not crazy. It wasn’t that. They just found joy in returning to the past. They just knew that they are not gone forever. A songfic tribute to Jiraiya, Asuma and to the others who have died. Pairings: NejiTen, JirTsu, PeinKonan and many more.


**This is a tribute to those who have died in the manga... because I had nothing important to do.**

**I don't own Naruto or the song I used, 'Bye Bye' by Mariah Carey.**

**Note: A few spoilers regarding Kakashi. Pein is not yet dead in the manga, by the way.  
Various pairings. Implied JirTsu, NejiTen, AsuKure, AnkoKaka, KonoHana, NaruSaku and PeinKonan. **

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They're not crazy. It wasn't that. They just found joy in returning to the past.

_This is for my peoples who just lost somebody  
Your best friend, your baby, your man, or your lady  
Put your hand way up high  
We will never say bye  
Mamas, daddies, sisters, brothers, friends and cousins  
This is for my peoples who lost their grandmothers  
Lift your head to the sky 'cause we will never say bye_

"Such a beautiful day, no, Jiraiya?" she whispered to the forever silent grave, pouring herself another cup of her favorite sake. "I had a fine time in the office today, you know." Tsunade contemplated on how tepid the warmth of the holidays struck her. She gracefully tipped the cup to her lips, keeping herself from downing the drops too quickly.

Smacking the rim from her mouth, Tsunade grinned in satisfaction. Comfortably and homely, she scooted nearer to the tombstone, making the grass crunch under her pants. As if she was really celebrating with Jiraiya himself, she wrapped one, drabbed arm around his stone and chirped, "Do you remember, old buddy, when we were genin? My gawd, you sucked so badly, I can hardly recognize you whenever I reminisce."

Tsunade smiled at the passing dried leaves of the wind. "Whenever I recall how you were back then, I seem so surprised." She laid her head on the top of the stone, almost pretending it was Jiraiya's shoulder, "And you amaze me in so many ways. I'll admit it: You could've made a better Hokage."

With that, Tsunade filled the two dewed cups, cushioned by the welcoming grass. Sake sputtered from the hollow cups as she held the bottle with a weary hand. Once full to the rim, she pushed one of the cups towards the stone and yelped, "Cheers to you and me, Jiraiya!" And there, Tsunade tossed the contents of her cup into her league, allowing the comforting fluid to satisfy her.

Tsunade found it hard to believe that she had abandoned the bonds of her paperwork for three full hours. But to know that she only did it because she always promised herself that she'd reserve the holidays for friends assured her in a way. Konoha can surely survive without one menopausal asshole screaming at them.

"Done already with your share, hm?" she mumbled when she motioned to Jiraiya's cup of sake, "Don't be so conservative. There's more than where it came from." Holding up another case of the alcohol, Tsunade then told the soundless ghost, "Believe it or not, Jiraiya: This is the best part of my day."

_And wherever you are… All of you…_ Tsunade thought as the sun glared at her, _You, Jiraiya… Dan… Nawaki…_ She laughed to herself. _Cheers to all of you! My heroes!_

And there, their hands caressed hers as a rain shower's kiss on the ground.

_As a child there were them times  
I didn't get it but you kept me in line  
I didn't know why you didn't show up sometimes  
On Sunday mornings and I miss you  
But when we talked, too._

A man, they said, had no right to show his true feelings, the reality that dwelled in him.

Perhaps it was their security, to seem stronger, to be the one to comfort rather than to be the one comforted. Or perhaps it has a reason all in all unknown and unexplained. Whichever way it meant, Neji didn't really think of it. It was just his aim to make his unvoiced lamentations as subtle as possible. Only she had his permission to know of it.

All the stone did was stare back at him… rocky in a still way… stony and cold in every possible way… including its stare.

"How did it feel, back then, to only have him to look to?" Tenten tried not to ask.

He neither flinched nor cringed. He only answered honestly. "Good. It had always felt good."

With that, she pursed her lips. She never knew how it felt—to feel that good—either. Even though it is so, she also never knew how it felt to lose someone. "I'm here now." She squeezed his hand, blowing her warmth into her icy fingers.

"I know." he replied almost immediately, "And I can count on you to make me feel better now. Always."

The shift of their feet took the air in dominance, leaving no room for any other sound at all. And he was somewhat confident that Hizashi Hyuga was smiling down at them.

_All them grown folk things  
Separation brings  
You never let me know it  
You never let it show because  
You loved me and obviously  
There's so much more left to say  
If you were with me today face to face_

Recovering from the drum-ripping chaos happening around her had never been so drastic to her gut. Kurenai never expected it. Delivery sounded saner in her friends' stories and the prematernity books Tsunade lent her. She could still feel the same thump-thump on her chest, but it resonated less in her ribs. She thinks she'll be fine.

Finally breathing right in her own hospital room, Kurenai found relief with the fact that she was in a bloodless and neat room. And the wriggling bundle in her arms succeeded in keeping her senses awake, keeping her from dropping her onto the floor.

Her first thought on her first-born hasn't come. Staring at the babe mesmerized her in a way, in a way she never knew. Maybe it was a way only a mother would know and she doesn't realize it yet. _My, you're squirmy_, Kurenai spoke silently, knowing the infant would understand not a word. The inevitable peeking of her incisors made her moment with her child complete.

There, Kurenai continued to stare at her little girl. It was the pleasure of examining her genes and Asuma's that seemed to delight her foolishly…

_Asuma, Asuma._ She thought to herself as she carefully rocked the baby to a slumber, _You were right. She ended up looking like you._

_I never knew I could hurt like this  
And everyday life goes on like  
"I wish I could talk to you for awhile"  
"I miss you but I could find a way try not to cry"  
As time goes by_

It was stupid of her to leave the Chunin exams stadium. But she felt that there was something else she needed to look at aside from bleeding genin and desperate ninjas.

Running her fingertips through his name engraved in stone, shining under the sun, Anko asked herself: _What happened to Kakashi?_

He seemed to be always there in the background, like the sky. She and he never spoke, not that she remembers. Still, it made her wonder. If she had ever noticed Kakashi in the first place—and if ever Kakashi actually noticed her, too, when she would—, would she still feel as guilty as this? Guilty, she felt, for being louder than all the men in Konoha? Guilty for being more of a man than most of them? It wasn't that…

She felt guilty for ever underestimating the power of the Copy Ninja.

_You were a good guy, Kakashi, _Anko couldn't even mumble to the heroes' stone, _And, I'll admit it. I wish you could've stayed longer._

Unknown to her, he dwells somewhere still. All of them do. Intangible, but still there. And a bright-eyed soul whispered cheerily to the middle-aged spirit next to her, "I didn't know you had a girlfriend when you were still alive, Kakashi." She giggled in delight. She used to wish she could pulverize any woman who'd touch Kakashi, but maybe her hopes had shifted ever since Obito.

Brows arching, her friend didn't know what she was talking about until she pointed at the trench coat-clad lady by the stone. Kakashi only blinked. Until he finally said, "You wish, Rin."

_And soon as you reach a better place  
Still I'll give the whole world to see your face  
And I'm right here next to you  
It feels like you gone too soon  
The hardest thing to do is say bye bye._

He hiccupped on where he sat, holding the picture frame he had since his younger years. "And… And then…" he mumbled almost inaudibly, "Me and my friends... We finally passed today. Yeah… Yeah. I… I beat up the guy I had to go through in the finals… Yeah, a right smack to the face, I gave him!" He ran a sleeve through the front of his nose before he sniffed and muttered, "But it would've been better if you saw me back there…"

Konohamaru's sight blurred with tears and his eyes reddened in grief. He cried, "You would've been so proud of me! So proud of me!"

And as he quivered with the picture of the Third in his hands, the pale girl nearby dragged her feet closer to him and planted her fingers onto his shoulders, comforting him with her silence. She knew that no words could be her consort in making him stop crying. Hanabi, herself, had no idea of the pain he was consumed in.

Becoming a Chunin was meaningless for Konohamaru without his grandfather.

_And you never got the chance to see how good I've done  
And you never got to see me back at number one  
I wish that you were here to celebrate together  
I wish that we could spend the holidays together_

The incense got to his nose. "Bless you, Naruto." Sakura forced back a snicker as Naruto wiped his nose with his hand. As she handed him a handkerchief, he merely smiled at her, taking her hanky gratefully. And as he blew his nose, her forehead crinkled in irritation.

"Don't act like a child, Naruto." She mumbled a scolding to her partner, "We're in a place of reverence. Can't you at least pretend to know that?" She snatched her handkerchief away before stopping in her tracks and stuffing it into Naruto's pocket.

Naruto giggled devilishly as he and Sakura knelt side-by-side in front of the Fourth Hokage's resting place. "Oh, come on, Sakura!" he exclaimed, "We're in front of my Dad!" He turned to the tombstone. "He'd like it if I act just like myself, you know." And there, he fell hushed with a grin on his face.

With that, Sakura, too, fell quiet. Perhaps, Naruto is right. _Minato-sama would like that very much, I guess. _Sakura figured.

_I remember when you used to tuck me in at night  
With the Teddy Bear you gave to me that I held so tight  
I thought you were so strong  
That you can make it through whatever  
It's so hard to accept the fact you're gone forever._

It was difficult to restrain herself from falling apart again. She knew it was the intelligent thing to do. Tears would melt her face away, literally, because of her component. Paper. Fragile. Brittle. Breakable. Delicate… Weak…

_Maybe it is everything in me that is weak, after all, _Konan thought as she stared back at the annoyingly cloudless sky, _Without you, that is. Without you, Pein… It seems that the world has no purpose to exist. The world needs a leader like you. I need you._

She could only recall how Pein evolved from the shy Nagato who used to be her teddy bear to the notorious Akatsuki leader. Nevertheless, all this time, he always had that same sparkle in his Rinnegan that made Konan's heart heave sighs.

_Was it your plan, Pein, _she wished to ask him, _to leave me like this? I hope not._

And she closed her eyes. Hopefully, when she opens them again, he'll be back.

_Bye bye._

They're not crazy. It wasn't that. They just knew that they are not gone forever.


End file.
